Just lit my first top down fire. What a different experience. Gas tubes start firing way quicker, stack heats up way faster. So the draw starts super fast. I was able to start cutting the air in about half the time. I recommend.
Top down fire
- Thread starter ozarkoak
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MEngineer24
Burning Hunk
Nice! It’s most definitely the way to go. I even can’t help myself but to use it on all fires I build lol. Everyone thinks it’s crazy till they see it in action.
Yeah, the faster you can get the secondaries to fire, the more you can turn those VOCs into something useful!
Took me awhile to catch on to that too even though I read a lot of threads about it. Sometimes it's hard to get us old geezers from changing our ways.
I think there are a lot of converts here. It was great to hear your experience.
I recently switched to top down and was surprised at how much better my stove operated. Faster heat up, faster secondary burns, and much less smoke! I also don’t need to leave the door open after lighting, so it’s easier too.
I recently switched to top down and was surprised at how much better my stove operated. Faster heat up, faster secondary burns, and much less smoke! I also don’t need to leave the door open after lighting, so it’s easier too.
dh1989
Burning Hunk
First top down fire I tried so very long ago did not work very well . . . I think the second or third one also did not work very well . . . but once I figured it out . . . well, it's all I use.
Funny thing is when I go camping and do a top down fire my friends often think I have lost my mind . . . I forget that most folks camping do not do top down fires.
Funny thing is when I go camping and do a top down fire my friends often think I have lost my mind . . . I forget that most folks camping do not do top down fires.
I was sold on it a long time ago. I do top downs in my stove, fire pits, grills, and smokers, too.
Its basically the exact opposite of starting from the bottom up. except all your wood is loaded which is also a great benefit that I forgot to mention. Splits on bottom and smaller pieces as you go up until you get to kindling. I couldn't get it to work last year at all but it was 100% because my wood was not seasoned enough. I load my first load on a cold stove north south bottom layer and east west next layer alternating as I go up. After that on a reload I just put stuff in. I hope everyone is having a great night
It's funny I almost always do top down fires in the stove, but almost never do in firepits. I enjoy the process of building up from smaller twigs to larger logs and splits when around a firepit.
I posted this on another Thread, but here is how i do it.
EbS-P
Minister of Fire
Just do it backwards. Big stuff on the bottom smaller as you go up. I find it just as enjoyable. The whole teepee fire probably isn’t a good one for top doe unless it’s it’s really big.
EbS-P
Minister of Fire
Any time I had problems my kindling was too big and I didn’t have enough of it. Only 1/3 of my fuel load by volume is full-sized splits. Everything else is kindling of nothing bigger than 1.5” square
i see what you’re saying, but that’s not for me. I like to start with twigs and small kindling. Then progressively work my way up. It’s cathartic. By the day I’m burning giant logs.
ohlongarm
Minister of Fire
While I appreciated the video the old fashioned way would have been burning already, in the king it's seldom over 20 minutes before she kicks off and you can close the bypass. I never use kindling only a fire starter 99% of time 1/2 super cedar.
Bad LP
Minister of Fire
Well i set this one up for a longer burn and slow start up on purpose. I was going for a single long burn. If you want it to start faster, switch the middle row for smaller pieces. Also open up the gap between the splits for coals to drop down much faster. I mentioned this in the later parts of the video. I'll make a faster starting Top Down video soon. You certainly can use firestarter and fat wood, super cedar, etc and it will work very well too.
If i set up that exact load bottom up, it would have smoked and smoldered forever, and not caught well at all. But it burned fine Top Down. Bottom up would have needed middle size pieces and or additional accelerants.
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In my VC cat stoves I cannot use a true top down method because the combustion chamber draws from the bottom of the firebox and really needs a lot of heat down there to get the cat going. Top down you would basically have to burn an entire load before engaging the catalyst. So what I do on cold starts is kind of an "inside out" fire, a couple large splits on the bottom, then paper, kindling, and a few medium splits on top of that. It heats up the whole stove pretty fast without crushing the newspaper and gets the bottom layer of wood burning hot within ~5-10 mins or so. Once it's going strong I toss a couple big pieces on top, let them catch, and I can engage the catalyst.
Yeah it really depends on the stove design. Not all cat stoves are the same. I think some cat stoves like Blaze King have the cat in the upper part of the stove so the smoke still exits from the top. That is not the case with VC stoves which are a sort of "down draft" design and really need a good coal bed to work as intended.
Bad LP
Minister of Fire
One thing I have noticed over time is a lot less smoke comes out of the chimney on a top down fire. This is obviously good for the air quality but much more importantly is less build up in the chimney with everything being cold.
My stove is a N/S loader so I find it much easier and faster to just load my splits in and stuff a homemade sawdust fire starter middle front in between the splits and let her rip. No kindling required but I will place a couple smaller splits around the fire starter. Usually the stove is set and forget in 20 min.
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